


Up All Night

by smoakoverwatch



Series: Olicity + William [9]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: F/M, Gen, but just go with it, idk - Freeform, more family fluff, why am i like this
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-27
Updated: 2017-09-27
Packaged: 2019-01-06 04:44:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,337
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12204114
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smoakoverwatch/pseuds/smoakoverwatch
Summary: The one where Oliver is out of town, and Felicity and William can't sleep.





	Up All Night

**Author's Note:**

> Hi. I'm back with another William centered fic. Apparently I can't stop myself. This was supposed to be angsty based on certain spoilers, but it turned into something short and fluffy instead.
> 
> Enjoy.

It’s extra quiet at home today.

Not that Oliver is the person in this relationship known for being chatty, but Felicity can’t help but feel like the place feels empty without him.

William went to bed a few hours ago, but Felicity could only toss and turn in her own so many times before she gave up and decided to watch television on the couch downstairs.

The living room is dark, the only light coming from the old movie that plays on a low volume. She dug into a cupboard that was full of junk food that only she liked to eat.

Pulling Oliver’s old gray hoodie close around her, she settles in to the couch, munching on a bag of pretzels every so often.

The sound of small footsteps down the stairs makes her jump up again.

When she turns, she sees William. His eyes are clear, and not squinting at the light, which tells her that she’s not the only one who had trouble sleeping today.

“William, what are you doing up so late?”

“What are _you_ doing up so late?” he counters, and Felicity has to bite the inside of her cheek to keep from laughing. It’s a fair question.

The truth is, even though they’ve been through hell, back and years apart in between, Felicity can’t sleep without Oliver there.

Okay, well, she can. But it’s been a rough day, and during dinner she made the mistake of putting on the evening news, which detailed a violent car shootout out of state. The violent surveillance footage made her flinch and drop her fork, flashes of an event years ago intruding her mind.

And Felicity knows herself well enough to know that it’s the kind of thing that would manifest into nightmares if she slept tonight.

And though Oliver is by no means a magic cure for her trauma, having him by her side when she wakes up from dreams that sometimes highlight losing him makes them a little easier to deal with.

So, there it is. The real reason she’s putting off sleep.

It certainly doesn’t help that the reason Oliver is away is because Barry needed help with something in Central City.

And she loves her friends on Team Flash but… their methods worry her.

She doesn’t tell William that, of course.

Instead, she shrugs.

“Just couldn’t sleep.”

He joins her on the couch.

“Me too.”

Felicity expects him to turn his attention to the screen, or maybe steal the snack sitting in between them, but instead the young boy twists his hands in his lap uncomfortably.

“Is something wrong?” she asks.

“I’m… I’m worried about him,” he says quietly.

Neither of them need to specify who.

“I know he’s helping a friend, and he’s good at what he does I just… I don’t know why him not being here makes me so nervous,” he admits so quietly it almost gets drowned out in the buzz of the television.

It’s times like these that Felicity is reminded how quickly William was thrown into their world – of masked superheroes and crazy risks and villains – in a way different from her. Where she had time to grow accustomed, to ease the anxiety that sometimes came with Oliver going on missions she couldn’t control, the young boy in front of her was forced into their world. His only experience with Oliver as the Green Arrow was during one of the most horrific events of his life.

It’s no wonder he’s worried.

“William,” she leans forward, pushing the sleeves of the gray hoodie up to take her hand in his, “he’s going to be fine.”

“I know that,” Will insists, “but come on Felicity, you know how he is. He takes crazy chances. This whole thing is crazy.”

Felicity can’t help but smile. His words echo her own, four years ago to the same man Oliver is now fighting alongside. She knows firsthand that any reassurances would just feel empty.

Instead, she pats the spot next to her and invites him to move over.

“Alright, come here,” she says, “if we both aren’t going to get any sleep tonight we might as well do it together. What do you feel like watching?”

They eventually find a channel playing reruns that they can both agree on, and William gets up once to bring over more snacks before they settle in.

The blankets, junk food, and closeness of it all reminds Felicity of the rare nights Donna had off from work, that she would dedicate to spending with her daughter, letting her bore her mother to tears with whatever science fiction show Felicity had fallen for that week.

Some time after their second episode of _Masterchef_ (sue them, they really do miss Oliver), William’s head lands on Felicity’s shoulder and his breathing evens out. It isn’t long before her own eyelids start to get heavy as well.

* * *

By the time Oliver get’s home, the sun is barely peeking out overhead. He’s exhausted, his movements slow as he pushes his key through the door, but he asked Barry to bring him back tonight so he could enjoy his Saturday with William and Felicity.

What he finds when he steps through the door surprises him.

On the couch, he finds Felicity’s head peeking just above the back cushion. As he walks over, he opens his mouth to ask what she’s doing up so early, but when he moves closer he stops himself.

She’s fast asleep, her cheek nestled into the cloth of his old sweater. Next to her, William is out like a light, but where she is sitting up, he’s lying down, legs thrown over her lap. Felicity’s arm drapes over his stomach, as though to protect him even in her sleep.

Later, Oliver will blame the long night.

But the sight of the two of them like that makes his world turn blurry.

He wonders if he should even wake them up, but he can tell by the way Felicity’s head is tilted and her shoulders slouched that her back, especially where the lines of her scars trace, will ache later.

He reaches out and gently nudges her shoulder.

“Felicity, honey, wake up,” he whispers, careful not to startle her.

Her eyes flutter open, brows furrowing in confusion as she takes in her surroundings.

“Oliver,” her voice is scratchy, a little higher in pitch than it usually is. She moves her neck back and forth a few times and winces.

“Hi there, what’s been going on here?” he asks lightly. Slowly his eyes trace over to the coffee table, where at least two open bags of chips lie and skittles are scattered about.

“I thought you weren’t coming back until later today,” she comments as she tries to sit up straighter.

“Yeah, I wanted to come home early. Missed you.”

She gives a sleepy grin, “I missed you too,” slowly, she twists to look at William.

“He did too,” she says almost sadly, “thus, all of this,” she gestures to the mess around them.

Oliver can tell the ache is starting to settle in from the way Felicity winces as she talks, so he holds out a hand.

Carefully, she moves William’s legs off her and gets up, letting Oliver pull her in close by snaking an arm around her waist.

“Hi,” she whispers into his shirt.

He laughs, running a hand up and down her spine absently.

“Breakfast?”

“Absolutely not,” she scoffs, “I need more sleep. Lying down, on a real bed this time. And if you just got home, I’m assuming you do to.”

“That does sound nice.”

Both of them turn their attention to the still-sleeping William.

“Should we leave him down here?” she asks quietly, frowning, “I don’t want to wake him up.”

“Yeah, let him sleep.”

Felicity lets Oliver lead them back to their room, hands loosely linked.

And when he finally does sleep, the last thing Oliver thinks of is the image William and Felicity made sleeping on the couch.

His family.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> twitter - smoakoverwatch  
> tumblr - overwatchandarrow


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